Newspaper strike of 1978 was guided by men of great faith
The following editorial appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice, August 5, 2008:
Newspaper strike of 1978 was guided by men of great faith
Rev. Dr. Jule Ayers was a courageous man. The Presbyterian minister could have sat in the background and comfortably served his flock in one of downtown Wilkes-Barre’s larger churches. But he spoke out, loudly and often, on what he saw as injustices to the people of all colors, faiths and ethnic backgrounds in his beloved Wyoming Valley.
Thus, it came as no surprise to many when Dr. Ayers publicly chastised Capital Cities Communications, Inc., in the summer of 1978 after the new owners of The Wilkes-Barre Publishing Company installed a fence topped with barbed wire, mounted surveillance cameras and imported hundreds of Wackenhut Corporation guards.
Cap Cities was out to break the newspaper unions. Dr. Ayers spoke out, not necessarily in a pro-union stance. He recognized the rights of labor and management, but he was chagrined at what he saw as an affront to the community, a militant show of force intended to demean and crush working people.
The Citizens’ Voice, the newspaper started by the union employees three days after the strike began on Oct. 6, seized Dr. Ayers’ words and played them on page 1 of the first issue.
I have a very personal attachment to Dr. Ayers. Upon his death in 1994, I was one of four people from the community invited to eulogize this great man. The church was packed, again by his true “flock,’’ people of all colors, faiths and ethnicity. It was an “As ye sow, so shall ye reap’’ moment.
How ironic that 30 years later, Bishop Joseph Martino of the Catholic Diocese of Scranton, has used his office to deny his own lay teachers the right to collective bargaining.
There is yet another faith-based and love-of-neighbor irony. Jim Orcutt, the strike leader dispatched to Wilkes-Barre by The Newspaper Guild, left his full-time job as a labor organizer/negotiator and founded My Brother’s Keeper, a volunteer-based outreach ministry based in Brocton, Mass.
Over its 20-year history, My Brother’s Keeper has made more than 80,000 deliveries of furniture, food and Christmas gifts to families in need. When My Brother’s Keeper makes a furniture delivery, no donation is accepted. Jim or another volunteer presses a small crucifix into the recipient’s hand and tells him or her, “He sent us.’’
It all started with Jim and his wife, Terry, as they watched a television report about a family in need of furniture. “We can help,’’ he said, and they did. Today, 2,000 volunteers staff unmarked trucks that haul donated furniture from a warehouse. When the volunteers began to find family’s hungry, food was added to the My Brother’s Keeper “to-do’’ list. Christmas gifts came next.
Dr. Ayers was influenced by the same tradition, one with roots extending back to the 1902 anthracite strike that brought The Rev. John Joseph Curran of Holy Saviour Church, Wilkes-Barre, and President Theodore Roosevelt to the support of John Mitchell and his mine workers. The Mitchell statue is only a short walk from Bishop Martino’s residence. Maybe he should take an evening stroll to get some inspiration.
Paul Golias, retired managing editor of The Citizens’ Voice, writes a weekly column on regional issues. His column on the first Tuesday of the month through October will be a reflection on the 1978 labor dispute that included start-up of the newspaper. He can be contacted at pgolias@verizon.net
Newspaper strike of 1978 was guided by men of great faith
Rev. Dr. Jule Ayers was a courageous man. The Presbyterian minister could have sat in the background and comfortably served his flock in one of downtown Wilkes-Barre’s larger churches. But he spoke out, loudly and often, on what he saw as injustices to the people of all colors, faiths and ethnic backgrounds in his beloved Wyoming Valley.
Thus, it came as no surprise to many when Dr. Ayers publicly chastised Capital Cities Communications, Inc., in the summer of 1978 after the new owners of The Wilkes-Barre Publishing Company installed a fence topped with barbed wire, mounted surveillance cameras and imported hundreds of Wackenhut Corporation guards.
Cap Cities was out to break the newspaper unions. Dr. Ayers spoke out, not necessarily in a pro-union stance. He recognized the rights of labor and management, but he was chagrined at what he saw as an affront to the community, a militant show of force intended to demean and crush working people.
The Citizens’ Voice, the newspaper started by the union employees three days after the strike began on Oct. 6, seized Dr. Ayers’ words and played them on page 1 of the first issue.
I have a very personal attachment to Dr. Ayers. Upon his death in 1994, I was one of four people from the community invited to eulogize this great man. The church was packed, again by his true “flock,’’ people of all colors, faiths and ethnicity. It was an “As ye sow, so shall ye reap’’ moment.
How ironic that 30 years later, Bishop Joseph Martino of the Catholic Diocese of Scranton, has used his office to deny his own lay teachers the right to collective bargaining.
There is yet another faith-based and love-of-neighbor irony. Jim Orcutt, the strike leader dispatched to Wilkes-Barre by The Newspaper Guild, left his full-time job as a labor organizer/negotiator and founded My Brother’s Keeper, a volunteer-based outreach ministry based in Brocton, Mass.
Over its 20-year history, My Brother’s Keeper has made more than 80,000 deliveries of furniture, food and Christmas gifts to families in need. When My Brother’s Keeper makes a furniture delivery, no donation is accepted. Jim or another volunteer presses a small crucifix into the recipient’s hand and tells him or her, “He sent us.’’
It all started with Jim and his wife, Terry, as they watched a television report about a family in need of furniture. “We can help,’’ he said, and they did. Today, 2,000 volunteers staff unmarked trucks that haul donated furniture from a warehouse. When the volunteers began to find family’s hungry, food was added to the My Brother’s Keeper “to-do’’ list. Christmas gifts came next.
Dr. Ayers was influenced by the same tradition, one with roots extending back to the 1902 anthracite strike that brought The Rev. John Joseph Curran of Holy Saviour Church, Wilkes-Barre, and President Theodore Roosevelt to the support of John Mitchell and his mine workers. The Mitchell statue is only a short walk from Bishop Martino’s residence. Maybe he should take an evening stroll to get some inspiration.
Paul Golias, retired managing editor of The Citizens’ Voice, writes a weekly column on regional issues. His column on the first Tuesday of the month through October will be a reflection on the 1978 labor dispute that included start-up of the newspaper. He can be contacted at pgolias@verizon.net
posted by SDACT at
6:27 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home